Abu Dhabi is the only championship round that Nasser Al Attiyah has won this year, making it his least prolific season since 2022. The three-time world champion will be going into the finale under more pressure than ever before. The Qatari had the pace this week, as he proved with victories in the prologue and stage 4, but two off days knocked him out of contention for what could have been his second triumph of 2025. From stage 4, the Dacia factory driver shifted his focus to defending his championship lead from the up-and-coming Henk Lategan and Lucas Moraes, locked in a fierce battle for the top step of the podium in Lisbon. The South African had earlier rocketed from fifth to second in the W2RC thanks to his home win in the previous round, where Moraes had taken third in both the rally and the championship. The two Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC factory drivers fought an internecine war in the finale of the bp Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal. Moraes added 19 seconds to his initial lead of 34 over Lategan and defeated his brother in arms to secure his maiden W2RC win.
Sébastien Loeb rounded out the podium, while his Dacia teammate Al Attiyah came in fourth and managed to retain his championship lead. The Qatari will have to sleep with one eye open, though, as Lategan more than halved his deficit from 20 points to 9. Moraes narrowed the gap to 10 points by virtue of winning the bp Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal. Toyota now spell double trouble for the Qatari as the field heads to Morocco for the finale in a couple of weeks. Al Attiyah will be basically racing in his own backyard, with a record seven victories in the Sharifian Kingdom, including the most recent edition.
On the manufacturers' side of things, The Dacia Sandriders pocketed two stages between Grândola and Lisbon. The other three went to Hiluxes, while the Moraes-Lategan one-two in the overall, with Loeb and his Sandrider in third place, also delivered a massive haul. As a result, Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC took the title for the fourth consecutive season with one round to go. The 110-point gap is too wide for Dacia to close in Morocco. Ford M-Sport remain third, with Carlos Sainz placing his Raptor on two stage podiums this week.
Sebastien Loeb - Photo: ImagensDesportivas.com
CHALLENGER: GUERREIRO WINS THE RALLY AND PERTEGARINI THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Nicolás Cavigliasso denied Gonçalo Guerreiro his maiden W2RC win at the Dakar. Vengeance has been served eight months later, with the Portuguese driver taking the overall and three out of six stages on home soil, including the finale on Sunday. Pim Klaassen (DaklaPack Rallysport, +19′57″) and Dania Akeel (BBR Motorsport, +27′57″) escorted him on the podium. Cavigliasso, fourth, defended his overall lead with 29 points in hand over Pau Navarro and 42 over Akeel, another BBR Taurus driver. The drivers' title remains up for grabs, but the Argentinian navigator Valentina Pertegarini can already rest assured that the crown is hers to keep
SSV: PINTO UNDEFEATED, OLIVEIRA TRIUMPHANT
2023 was the last time that an SSV driver completed a clean sweep of the W2RC stages of a round, with Rokas Baciuška setting an example at the Sonora Rally and Shinsuke Umeda repeating the exploit at the Desafío Ruta 40. Alexandre Pinto has joined this select club as the undisputed master of the bp Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal, with his teammate Enrico Gaspari as the best of the rest. The Italian can still snatch the title from the Portuguese ace, but with 33 points separating the two men, it is barely within the realm of possibility. In contrast, Bernardo Oliveira has already got the navigators' crown in the bag.
2025 WRC podiums following the bp Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal (4/5):
FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (drivers):
1. Nasser Al Attiyah (The Dacia Sandriders): 140 points
2. Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC): 131 points (-9)
3. Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC): 130 points (-10)
FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (navigators):
1. Édouard Boulanger (The Dacia Sandriders): 145 points
2. Brett Cummings (Toyota Gazoo Racing): 131 points (-14)
3. Armand Monleón (Toyota Gazoo Racing): 130 points (-15)
FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (manufacturers):
1. Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC: 397
2. The Dacia Sandriders: 287 (-110)
3. Ford M-Sport: 217 (-180)
FIA Challenger Rally-Raid Championship (drivers):
1. Nicolás Cavigliasso (BBR Motorsport): 168 points
2. Pau Navarro (BBR Motorsport): 139 points (-29)
3. Dania Akeel (BBR Motorsport): 126 points (-42)
FIA Challenger Rally-Raid Championship (navigators):
1. Valentina Pertegarini (BBR Motorsport): 168 points
2. Bruno Jacomy (Nasser Racing): 103 points (-65)
3. Stéphane Duplé (BBR Motorsport): 98 points (-70)
FIA SSV Rally-Raid Championship (drivers):
1. Alexandre Pinto (Old Friends Rally Team): 223 points
2. Enrico Gaspari (Old Friends Rally Team): 190 points (-33)
3. Michele Cinotto (CST Xtreme Plus Polaris): 105 points (-118)
FIA SSV Rally-Raid Championship (navigators):
1. Bernardo Oliveira (Old Friends Rally Team): 223 points
2. Fausto Mota (Old Friends Rally Team): 140 points (-83)
3. Maurizio Dominella (CST Xtreme Plus Polaris): 78 points (-145)
Source: W2RC / A.S.O.
Photos: ImagensDesportivas.com
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